Hi Rob,

I finished the inside of the boat using your varnishing technique and I am very pleased. I only had one minor run in three coats and it turned out very nice. Thanks for the great advice.

I plan on buffing the outside depending how it turns out. How long should I wait before final polishing???

Andreas

: Unless you are buffing out a finish any grit over 220 is a waste of effort
: when varnishing an epoxy coated boat surface.

: And unless your boat will never leave the walls of a museum, show room, or if
: the selling price is over a mill, it’s a BIG waste of effort to buff out a
: boat finish. Buffing out a finish is not something you learn on the first
: try.

: All the marine spar varnishes I’m familiar with (and I’ve used quite a few)
: suggest sanding ONLY up to 220 grit before application.

: I’ve been sanding for over thirty years. I used to HATE sanding. I still
: don’t love it, but it’s bearable when you know what you’re doing and what
: grit to use.

: 320 is used with the water based finishes because these are so thin, and 400
: and 600 grit papers take down a very small amount of material.

: Hand sanding is MUCH less effective than power sanding.

: I be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts if you sanded with 400 or 600 grit a
: careful examination of the surface would reveal a LOT of remaining 220
: grit scratches. I've made jewelry where you have to polish a metal surface
: to mirror perfection, and believe me, removing the scratches from a
: previous grit paper are a lot harder than you think even on a softer
: surface like epoxy by hand sanding.

: The idea of sandpaper use is to level the surface with a course paper like 80
: grit then, depending on your surface hardness, use lower grits to remove
: the scratches of the previous grit to a level appropriate to your finish.
: For the soft woods we use on kayaks a 80 -100- 150 grit progression works
: fast and well, to prepare for epoxy.

: When all my glassing work is done and I'm ready to finish the boat I rough
: sand with 80 grit. Then apply two final coats of resin. This covers all
: feathered glass edges and any cloth weave tops I might run into. This
: coating will be very smooth almost looking like it’s varnished. Then I can
: start sanding this smooth surface with 150 grit and then 220 with ROS and
: finally going over it with 220 wet hand sanding before varnishing.

: By adding two final coats of epoxy before finish sanding I know I will not be
: cutting into my glass layers.

: NOW IF you were applying a hand rubbed oil finish penetrating a bare wood
: surface you would want to sand to 320 or even 400 grit since the oil will
: be sucked into the wood and the build up of finish on the surface will
: reveal very small scratches

: BUT on a non-absorbent surface like epoxy 220 grit scratches will be totally
: filled by one BRUSHED coat of marine spar varnish.

: All the varnishing literature I know of deals with coating bare wood surfaces
: NOT epoxy coated surfaces, so with this in mind, thinning the first coat
: of varnish is not applicable to epoxy.

: With boat surfaces sanded to 220 grit (wet/by hand or dry/using power ROS)
: it’s possible to achieve an extremely easy, consistent, beautiful finish
: following the varnishing technique I’ve outlined here before.

: I invite you to look at the boat finishes on my boats at this fall’s Newfound
: Rendezvous.

: Of course there are different ways to apply a finish. For the novice finisher
: (anyone who’s finished under 20 boats) I suggest following the directions
: of SOMEONE who has applied a marine finished professionally. If you don’t
: like my method there are many fine books on the subject. Remember almost
: all will be on finishing wood rather than epoxy surfaces.

: Just like the many variables involved with epoxy application there are many
: variables to control to achieve a fine boat finish. It does take time and
: experience to do a good job consistently. When you work alone you have no
: one else’ work or work methods to compare what you’re doing to it is easy
: to waste a lot of effort especially if you pick and choose among different
: methods.

: When we get to the point of completing the boat we’re eager to get it wet. So
: subtitles of applying a finish can be overlooked. BUT the beauty of strip
: building is you can put on a new finish next week or this winter and your
: boat will look that much better for it.

: I dearly wish I might direct someone away from wasting their time and energy
: on procedures that will do nothing to improve their boat.

: I encourage you rather to take all the time and effort needed to align and
: fit your strips as exactly as you are able to. THIS more than any other
: aspect of building will save you time and effort in EVERY OTHER PART of
: the building process.

: I believe your strips MUST be tacked STRONGLY to the stations somehow. If you
: are using a stapless method that doesn’t connect each strip firmly to the
: station you are making the possibility of stripping tightly and following
: the forms accurately extremely difficult.

: Most of my designs have concave sections to the hull that must have strong
: contact with each strip to be constructed accurately.

: I hope this will be helpful to at least a few out there.

: All the best,

: Rob Macks
: Laughing Loon CC&K
: www.LaughingLoon.com